Smiles, tears on day of reckoning for students

A day of reckoning for students

THUMBS UP: Former James Hargest College student William Hancock celebrates after checking his exam results, confirming he attained the standard required to study at university.

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There were cheers, tears and some sighs of relief as Southland teenagers finally learned how they fared in last year's exams.

National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results were released online yesterday morning, with thousands of students logging in to check their marks.

Former James Hargest College student William Hancock checked first thing yesterday and said he was happy. As well as a few merit grades, the 18-year-old gained university entrance standard, allowing him to study law at the University of Otago this year.

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority website, plagued by problems in previous years, had worked perfectly yesterday, he said.

Southland Girls' High School student Wendy Crosbie, 16, said she waited a few hours before logging in to avoid any website crashes.

Despite putting in a lot of study before sitting her NCEA level-one exams last year, she was a little nervous before checking her grades, but her results were better than she expected, she said.

Senior students who received good news can apply for extra tertiary funding, with the Community Trust of Southland again offering a school leavers award.

The award granted Southland students who achieved NCEA level-three endorsed with excellence a $3000 scholarship.

Trust chief executive John Prendergast said the scholarship was "automatic", with no interviews or application process, but those who gained an overall excellence endorsement at level three needed to contact the trust. Information about the scholarship can be found at ctos.org.nz.